David Bresch asks:

>Does ANYONE like the Russian conductor Mravisnky, and does ANYONE have any
>information on him?

Yes I like him, Mravinsky is his name.  He had arguably the best
disciplined of all the Soviet orchestras at his disposal - the Leningrad
Philharmonic.  You have to accept basic limitations of the Melodiya
recordings made of him, which tended to exaggerate his penchant for a
fast and hard, but not sweet, vibrato in all departments of the orchestra.
Personally I respond the most to his recordings away from the 19th Century
Russian repertoire, especially his BEETHOVEN and SHOSTAKOVICH.

He also had a recording contract with DGG in the 1950s/60s, who dealt with
the unique timbre of the orchestra only a little better, in my opinion.

I was about to suggest a link of a Japanese gentleman who had a website
with biographical information and an excellent discography, but his ISP has
apparently just taken him down.  I may have saved the discography somewhere
on the PC, if anyone is interested in it for their private purposes.  It
was freely available on the net, when the site was up.

Gale Andrews, G.Andrews Classical LPs
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http://www.galeandrews.co.uk